The global pandemic has opened up new opportunities for technology companies which develop innovative products. In the first half of this year, sales revenue of Lithuanian start-ups, which managed to adapt quickly to the existing situation, was a third higher compared to the corresponding period a year ago. The number of the employees and their salaries also increased.

According to the data provided by the analysts of “Enterprise Lithuania”, during the second quarter of 2020, the total sales of Lithuanian start-ups in the domestic and foreign markets amounted to 242.3 million euros, which is 18% more than in the same period last year, and in the first half of the year – 483.8 million euros or 30% more than in the corresponding period in 2019.

In the second quarter of this year, exports of high value-added goods and services developed by Lithuanian start-ups amounted to 159.7 million euros or 11% more compared to the second quarter in 2019, and in the first half of the year – 330.6 million euros or 30% more than in the corresponding period in 2019. Compared to the first quarter of this year, exports of Lithuanian start-ups grew by 16%.

For comparison, during the first half of this year, exports of goods and services of the entire economy fell 9.2%, and sales revenue fell 5.4%.

“The analysis of domestic and foreign market sales of Lithuanian start-ups shows that creating high level of added value allows business to maintain stability and even grow, while less competitive companies find it difficult to survive in crisis conditions. The competitors who are becoming weaker allow for a larger share of the market to be held and to grow faster. There is no doubt that the ability to adapt quickly and to offer the market the products that are most needed at the moment, such as various solutions for society, business and states which are related to the challenges of the pandemic, is the reason for the successful exports of Lithuanian start-up“, – says Roberta Rudokienė, the Head of the Startup ecosystem development unit “Startup Lithuania” of the Public Institution “Enterprise Lithuania”.

According to the latest data from the start-up data platform Unicorns.lt, the number of employees and salaries in Lithuanian start-ups continue to grow steadily. In the first half of 2020, the start-ups employed 9 thousand employees, which is 5% more than in the first quarter of this year. It is estimated that in the second quarter of this year the average gross salary of an employee amounted to 2.6 thousand euros, which was 7% more than in the first quarter of this year.

According to R. Rudokienė, although the turnover of Lithuanian start-ups, the number of employees and salaries are growing and gaining momentum, this does not mean that all Lithuanian start-ups are doing well. “Some start-ups also faced difficulties, especially those operating in tourism sector. New early stage start-ups also find it harder to go through this period”, – notes R. Rudokienė.

According to R. Rudokienė, currently, the demand for the products and services of companies operating in areas such as educational technology, e-commerce, telemedicine, home delivery, cyber security is the biggest, and they also have the greatest potential for development.

Some of the most successful Lithuanian start-up, that took advantage of the opportunities of the pandemic for business development, new solutions and growth are: ZitiCity, Interactio, Omnisend, CityBee, Tesonet, Zivo.io, manodaktaras.lt, Uvireso, Ligence, Simawater Technologies, Baltymas, Hadroneda, Biomatter Designs, NDcare, Rubedo sistemos.